ISS Samui Sharks Swim Team

Over the weekend of the 25th to the 27th of July, the ISS Samui Sharks visited Phuket to compete in the Rocketscience Invitational Swimming Championships at the Thanyapaura sports complex. A squad of 28 students from the International School Of Samui travelled to Phuket to compete in one of the biggest junior swimming competitions in Asia with over 300 swimmers participating. The youngest member of the squad was 6 years old and the oldest 17. 16 swim squads and schools from around Asia and Europe made the journey with teams coming from as far as Germany, Kazakhstan, Philippines, China and South Korea as well as from other schools in Thailand.

The competition was the product of months of hard work, with students training up to six times a week. The action was intense throughout the three days of competition and it included athletes who will be attending the Rio 2016 Olympics, as well as many national swimmers and record holders.

The ISS Samui Sharks got off to a great start in the very first race of the day with a silver medal in the 200 freestyle under 8s relay. The team’s first gold of the day went to Arabella Less in the 100 metres butterfly. Over the two days the team received 36 individual medals and 10 relay medals, including 10 golds.

Big congratulations must go to Tatiana Riviere (8 years old) who accumulated 8 medals including two golds for the 50 metres butterfly and 200 metres breaststroke, coming second overall in her age group. Elouan Sardou (10 years old) received seven medals overall including gold for the 100 metres backstroke. Arabella Lees (11 years old) amassed seven medals including two golds for the 400 metres Individual Medley and the 100 metres butterfly.

The team points award saw the girls finish third and the boys finish fourth. A big thank you must be given to the squad’s coaches JP Hawkins, Mark Withers, Bianca Marnewick and Pakjira Yanapan (Pee Aor) and to all the parents and supporters who made the journey to Phuket to cheer on the team.